Get help with iCloud Photos

When you turn on iCloud Photos, all of your photos and videos are securely stored in iCloud. Learn how to manage iCloud Photos, find missing photos and videos, and delete the ones you don’t want anymore.

What happened to the Camera Roll album on my iOS device?

After you turn on iCloud Photos, the Camera Roll album is replaced with an All Photos album. The All Photos album gives you the same compact scroll view, now with all your photos and videos organized by the date you add them.

What happened to the My Photo Stream album?

When you turn on iCloud Photos, the photos from your Camera Roll are added to the All Photos album. And photos from My Photo Stream that are in your My Photo Stream album but not saved to your library are removed. After you turn on iCloud Photos, you won't see a separate My Photo Stream album.

If you have an additional device with My Photo Stream turned on and iCloud Photos turned off, you'll still see a My Photo Stream album on that device. Any new photos that you take or add to your library show in that album on that device.

What if some of my photos and videos are missing after I turn on iCloud Photos?

How do I delete photos and videos from a device using iCloud Photos?

When you delete a photo or video from your Photos app, it also deletes from your iCloud Photos and iCloud storage. You can recover your photos and videos from the Recently Deleted album for 30 days.

Can I see all the photos and videos from my Mac on iCloud.com?

iCloud Photos uploads photos and videos from your Mac System Library. Photos and videos that you keep outside of your System Library won't upload or update across your devices.

How do I see the progress of my upload to iCloud Photos?

You can see if a photo or video has uploaded to iCloud when you open the Photos app and view your library in Moments. Your upload status is at the bottom of the menu. You can also find photos and videos from your Photos Library that haven't been uploaded to iCloud in a smart album on your Mac.

Reduce the storage for iCloud Photos by deleting photos and videos that you don't want to keep from your iOS devices or on iCloud.com. Your device will immediately remove any photos and videos that you delete and they won't be available for recovery in your Recently Deleted album.

If you're out of storage, your devices won't back up to iCloud, and new photos, videos, documents, and your information won't stay up to date.

How do I turn off iCloud Photos on only one device?

You can turn off iCloud Photos on a single device when you follow these steps:

If you have Optimize Storage turned on, you might not have all of your original photos and videos on your device. To download the original photos and videos on your iOS device, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos and select Download and Keep Originals. On your Mac, open Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then select Download Originals to this Mac. Then you can turn off iCloud Photos. You can also select the photos and videos that you want to download from iCloud.com.

Photos and videos are stored in your account for 30 days. To download your photos and videos on your iOS device, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos and select Download and Keep Originals. On your Mac, open Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then select Download Originals to this Mac. You can also select the photos and videos that you want to download from iCloud.com.

Learn more

If you need help managing and using iCloud Photos with your Windows PC, you can learn more.

* In earlier versions of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and iCloud for Windows, iCloud Photos was called iCloud Photo Library.

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